Mike Pedicone
| Name: | Michael Pedicone |
| Also Known As: | Shredicone, UghPedicone |
| Occupation: | Musician (touring drummer for My Chemical Romance, 2010-2011) |
| Medium: | Music |
| Works: | |
| Official Website(s): | |
| Fan Website(s): | |
| On Fanlore: | Related pages |
Mike Pedicone is best known as the (second? third?) drummer who broke MCR fandom's heart.
The Rise and Fall of Pedicone
Pedicone, a friend of MCR from their days touring with his previous band The Bled, started drumming for them on their "Danger Days" album tours, following Bob Bryar's 2010 departure. He wormed himself into the fandom's heart with his shirtlessness, Twitter wit and antics with Frank Iero.
By the spring of 2011, fans were making an effort to include him in stories (see for example the "Get Pedicone Some" art/fic prompt meme) and he appeared as a supporting or even major character in many fanfics.[1]
MCR headlined the iconic Reading & Leeds festivals at the end of August 2011. Shortly after, rumors spread on Twitter reporting that Mike had been fired, which the fandom rationalized as best it could, coming up with amicable split scenarios or denying the info altogether. Finally, on Sept 1 Frank published a blog post on the band's official site, explaining that Mike had been caught stealing from the crew and would therefore never be mentioned again.[2] The words "heartbroken" were used. In the first show following, Frank could be heard replacing his "trust me" line in "I'm Not Okay" by "Trust no one."[3]
See also: "MCR verses (sic) Mike Pedicone" section of moose-spam's MCR primer (posted Nov 24, 2011).
Fandom Reactions
Many fans felt confused, disappointed and betrayed, both on their own behalf and on that of the members of the band. Some waited for the situation to be explained further; after Pedicone's clumsy attempts to explain himself, some decided to give him the benefit of the doubt or to forgive his mistake and keep supporting him. (See for example fuckyeahpedicone.tumblr.com.)
Other fans worked through their feelings via fanworks, and Pedicone began appearing as the villain in more or less directly cathartic stories:
“And in something of a similar vein," Lady Ballato went on, "you are familiar with our neighbor Pedicone, are you not, Master Way?”Gerard heard Frank shift behind him, and hurried to speak to cover the movement. “I am, my lady.” It was a struggle to keep his voice smooth, but he was not a player for nothing; he used the hand that was angled behind him to touch Frank’s sleeve briefly, and kept his own expression open.
“I see you bear him no love,” she said to Frank, and Gerard tensed now, too, but she simply went on, “Which is precisely why I have called you here. Lord Pedicone desires to marry me—or, to speak plain, he desires to marry my lands—and I... well.” She spread her hands in front of her. “Quite simply, I would rather eat my own innards.”[4]
Frank's stomach hurts - it's the tension, and all the anger he's had to swallow, and the fact that he didn't have the opportunity to actually punch Pedicone in his fucking face when he found out from Mikey that they hadn't seen Gerard because he walked in on Pedicone fucking another dude, and Gerard had been crying in Mikey's bed for three days straight.Pedicone screwed Gerard over, and in the worse possible way you could screw Gerard over, and Frank just -
"Fuck." He runs his hands through his hair, tugging on it for a few seconds. "I fucking trusted him." His face runs hot every time he thinks about all the stuff Pedicone knows about him, everything he'd trusted him with, how he'd really thought he was an upstanding guy, and that he was good for Gerard.[5]
Some fanworks were scrapped, reworked or came with warnings:
(Written before Pedicone was revealed to be UghPedicone. Feel free to imagine someone else in his place.)[6]
See also comments to the previously quoted stories, such as:
This is just. This is like everything I have wanted but didn't even know to HOPE for after the whole fucking Pedicone thing went down, and it's SO PERFECT on that level, that ANGER and betrayal and of COURSE Frank feels like an idiot and is upset on his behalf but is also just so fucking ANGRY that he hurt his friends, his FAMILY, and made Gerard feel that way, and just. I ALWAYS love how emotionally solid your fic is, the way you make me feel what the characters are feeling, but in this instance it is like emotional meta on top of great fic and seriously FUCK YOU, PEDICONE. YOU DON'T FUCKING GET JAMIA'S TITS.[7]
*SNIFF* MY HEART. You give magical healing cock fic! I love this verse SO MUCH, and I didn't even realize how hurt I was by the Pedicone issue until I read this. *sniffle*[8]
And I loved that moment where they were in Pedicone's secret embezzlement room and everything there was kind of small and pathetic, just these sad sneaky unrewarding little crimes, and Gerard and Frank felt weirdly sorry for the guy. That was just amazing, especially because it didn't mean the guy got forgiven or redeemed or anything, he stole from his tenants and he's a creep, but it was just...sad.[9]
References
- ^ Mike Pedicone AO3 tag
- ^ NME.com, My Chemical Romance sack drummer Mike Pedicone over theft claims, published Sept 3, 2011 (retrieved Sept 21, 2014).
- ^ Frank Says, "Trust no one," In First Show Without Pedicone, posted to Youtube by Lydia Ellis on Sept 4, 2011.
- ^ brynmck, Speak the Speech, I Pray You, posted to AO3 on March 18, 2012.
- ^ brooklinegirl, Remedy (Take Two and Call Me in the Morning), posted Oct 23, 2011.
- ^ theopteryx, "Apastron" author's note, posted to A03 March 4, 2012.
- ^ mistresscurvy, comment to brooklinegirl's "Remedy" posted on Oct 23, 2011.
- ^ concinnity, comment to brooklinegirl's "Remedy", posted on Oct 24, 2011.
- ^ belmanoir, comment to brynnmck's "Speak the Speech", posted Sept 13, 2012.